Fun & Creative Superbowl Snacks

Looking to get in touch with your creative side for this year’s Superbowl food line-up? Check out some of these fun recipes:

Ritz Cheesy Football

Recipe from Food Network

Ritz Cheesy Football from Food Network

Salad on a Stick

Recipe from Food Network

Salad on a Stick from Food Network

Perky Olive Penguins

Recipe from RecipeZaar

Perky Olive Penguins from RecipeZaar

Super Bowl

Recipe from Food Network

Super Bowl from Food Network

And the best for last… albeit a little over the top:

The Greatest Snack Food Stadium Ever Built

Recipe from Holy Taco

The Greatest Snack Food Stadium Ever Built by Holy Taco

[PICS] Food Portions Then & Now

What do 200 calories look like?

Visiting with my boyfriend’s parents this weekend tempted me to revisit the portion control post from back in December 2008. His mother and I talked about the sobering reality of an American portion size. Here’s a visual representation from author Liz Monte of DivineCaroline.com of what a portion used to be twenty years ago versus now:

Pizza

Cup of Coffee

Popcorn

Bagel

Soda/Pop

Microwave with Pizza Drawer

No more soggy pizza. This microwave has a built in pizza drawer, which reheats a pizza to crisp perfection. It’s called the Stainless Steel Kenmore 1.1 cu. ft. Countertop Microwave & Pizza Oven. Other features as listed by Amazon.com include:

• Microwave-6 Auto One Touch Buttons: Reheat, Cook, Defrost, Express Defrost, Popcorn, Potato
• Oven-4 Auto Cooking Pizza Buttons: Frozen Rising Crust, Frozen Regular Crust, Fresh Regular Dough, Fresh Par-baked Crust
• Manual Bake Cook-Cookies & Biscuits, Breads, Pastry
• Temperature Control-350, 375, 400 & 425 degrees
• Main Usage: Pizza, Bake, Toast functions

While it may have a hefty price tag of around $270.00, it just might be worth saving counterspace. Check out what Craziest Gadgets has to say about this product.

Food Bloggers

I’ve been noticing more and more food blogs out there in the Web sphere. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bread & Honey.

Bread & Honey is a cute, rustic type of blog that features food recipes with beautiful high-quality photos. It used to have two full-time authors, Summer and Alicia, however, it looks like Summer has moved on to different things. Great archive to dig through.

Foodess.

Foodess is one of the newest blogs out there that I’ve been following. The blog incorporates wonderful use of the latest web design trends (minus a favicon. okay, okay, I may be biased) and also features beautiful recipes with cook-as-you-go photography; always an added bonus. Side note: it appears that the awesome agency behind the design of this site is Pallian Creative of New York City.

JMUeats.

This foodie blog site is called “JMUeats” and features posts by some gals from my alma mater, JMU. I love what they are cooking up — only wish this was around while I was a student! Keep it up girls and go DUKES! 😉

Have a favorite food blog that you’d like to share? Go ahead and leave a comment!

Designer’s Tabletop Electric Stove

Came across this retro-looking table top stove that folds up and stows away easily. It’s called the “Cooka.” Here’s an excerpt from Yanko Design:

“Cooka takes away the theory that silver is only meant for cutlery and ornamental purposes. This unique tabletop electrical cooking device uses silver in its design quite generously. Banking on its thermal conductivity properties, the cooking plates use the metal effectively to heat up the utensils fast and cool down the unit even faster.

The distinctive design of Cooka makes it resemble a table mat and quite like it, you can fold it up and stow it away, till the next cooking session. The silver plates are surrounded by tiny holes that constantly blow out a stream of hot air around the utensil, so that excess heat is not lost during cooking”

Read more at YankoDesign.

Turkey Day Recap

Our fabulous turkey.

Thanksgiving was a unique for my family this year. Instead of doing Thanksgiving at home, we went to my boyfriend’s parents house, or as I like to say, my hopeful future in-laws. 🙂 Chris and I woke up in the morning and helped his parents do the last-minute turkey day cooking. I made pumpkin bread from Libby’s Pumpkin Bread Kit. It turned out wonderfully, although I will add raisins and a little bit of nutmeg next time. I also made honey butter from a recipe on my favorite cooking website: RecipeZaar.com.

My dad brought his famous cranberry relish with orange zest soaked with a “special” marinade a.k.a. a cup of Grand Marnier. Of course, my parents also came bearing gifts: Jack Daniels and wine for the host and hostess. Overall it was a relaxing day filled with food, drinks, games (we played Taboo), football, and movies.

Family on Thanksgiving Day

Really Cool Kitchen Gadgets

I stumbled upon this website today while I was at work searching for blog designs. It’s a website dedicated to the latest kitchen gadgets on the market.

Check it out: http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/category/home-gadgets/kitchen/

Steak Toaster

Cooking: Wok Fried Rice

Does anyone know how to make a flavorful fried rice or know of a recipe that I could follow?

Wok Fried Rice

Here’s what I’m thinking for ingredients:

• Scallions
• Garlic
• Rice (preferably brown)
• Onions
• Soy sauce
• Egg
• Carrots
• Snow peas
• Salt & pepper
• Oil
• Protein like shrimp, beef, or chicken
• Bean sprouts

I’m having trouble figuring out the process and order in which I cook up my ingredients. Suggestions, tips, and recommendations are welcome! 🙂